The Fire Traitor

Chapter 1:

I only have one big goal in my life. That one goal is to become a solider, like my father Otto and my older brother Zack. To become a solider representing my hometown, Foresta would mean everything to me. Foresta is my life. My everything. My home. This dream had sparked from my mother, Ruby Julep's death. My mother was murdered by a rival town under the name Boaten, who attacked us years ago when I was just learning my first steps. My father Otto was distraught, and from what my brother Zack had told me, my father would hardly do anything than drink and sleep for months. My father's friend Phillip Sanders took care of us while he was grieving, and persuaded him to keep on going and be strong, for his children. I grew up missing my mother, and my family telling me snippets of what had happened to her. When I was 10 years old I watched Zack's ceremony, with others his age becoming a solider at 16. That's what I wanted to become after that one moment. To try and minimise any other poor souls from getting harmed, or their lives crushed from a family member's death.

The three of us, me, Zack and my father all live in the town called Foresta. The town was founded years ago, in the middle of a great thick wood called Fortree forest. When the first tribe of people created Foresta, an Oak tree was planted in the centre. The people built their huts around the Great Oak, and lived in peace with one another. The Great Oak is now a symbol of our town, and had grew alongside Foresta big and strong. We hold all our festivals and ceremonies around The Great Oak, and some people believe the Oak is a spirit, and worship it daily. We built brick and stone houses to live in, with pebbled paths and other important buildings like hospitals, schools, halls and different shops. We grow our own food here on farms, own cattle for milk, meat and wool, sew, knit and colour our own clothes, chop down our own wood from the forest, and collect water from The River Marlotte just on the edge of Fortree forest.

Foresta recently built 50-foot-tall bleak, stone white walls around it. After some attacks from the town Boaten, we had to take a different approach. Defend ourselves. Boaten is a larger town, with a bigger army. Foresta trains their soldiers longer than Boaten, who just lets anyone join even if they have little or no experience. Their technology is far advanced than ours, and their buildings can nearly touch the sky. Boaten town is on the other side of The River Marlotte, settled by the cliff edge. I do not know what lies below the waterfall and cliff edge, as it is always covered by mist or fog, so people have said. I never leave Foresta's walls, hardly anyone does except for their jobs. Fortree forest is misty and dull, which can give people the chills with how eerie it can get. Boaten want power more than anything, conquering other villages or forcing them to join with them in one big clan. Boaten will have trouble smashing through our walls!

"Donte Julep!"

I bolt upright in a flash from leaning against my broom stick, and turn my head sharply towards the voice in the doorway of the training class room. It's Mr. Naywood, one of the professors at the training academy who teaches various theory classes.

"Sir?" I say uncertainly, straightening my brown jacket.

Mr. Naywood just smiles at me, holding a mug in his right hand which could either be coffee or tea, as he practically lives off the stuff, while resting his left hand against the open door.

"You are always in dreamland aren't you young man?" He chuckles, lifting the mug up to his lips slowly.

I start to sweep the tiled floor again, dust and dirt accumulate at my feet.

"I was just thinking." I say, avoiding his eye. He always picks on me in class.

Mr. Naywood grunts slightly.

"Wouldn't you rather think at home, than waste your precious time here after hours?" He says.

I start to sweep faster.